Holder of more than 550 patents, Polytechnic University alumnus Jerome Lemelson '47 '49 H'95 was one of America's most prolific inventors. With inventions ranging from automated manufacturing systems and medical equipment, to cordless phones, cassette players and camcorders, fax machines, personal computers, children's toys and machine vision, the product of Lemelson's prodigious mind are enmeshed throughout modern society. Lemelson's financial success came from licensing such patents as an audiocassette drive mechanism to Sony Corp and data- and word-processing technology to IBM. A man of great rectitude, Lemelson went on to lead a crusade to defend the rights of independent inventors against corporate giants, and generated additional revenue by enforcing his patents that had been usurped by such commercial behemoths as Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Boeing, Motorola, Mitsubishi, Dell and others. Leveraging profits from his patents to encourage young inventors, the Lemelson Foundation established scholarships, prizes and awards at a wide range of institutions, including: MIT, Hampshire College, the University of Nevada, and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. In memory of his alma mater his widow, Dorothy, established a $1 million Lemelson Scholarship Program at Polytechnic University in 2000 to support her husband's enduring faith in the crucial role engineers play in improving the lives of others through innovation, invention and entrepreneurship.